First Bow

This is the first of four new posts today...so make sure to scroll down. You'll also find two new posts from yesterday if you hadn't seen those yet.

We went to Target on Friday to return a few boy outfits I'd gotten "just in case"...instead we picked out some girlie socks and some hair stuff. I'm so excited I get to do these kinds of things!

Well, the other night Autumn was sleeping so sweetly in her swing:

She's often got her little hands up by her chin like that...even on ultrasounds she'd do that.

Jason looked at her and declared, "There's only one thing missing from that picture":


Her first bow!



And I just love that her Daddy was the one to clip it in her hair. So precious!

We've also noticed that her hair line is exactly like Easton's...all three kids have the cowlick on their front right sides (that Jason used to have)...but Autumn's and Easton's are even more identical than Dalton's. I hope she doesn't want to have bangs one day, I'm not sure that'll work out so well. :)

Oh, and for those that have asked...no, neither Easton nor Dalton had this dark or this much hair when they were babies. I doubt she'll keep it but it's fun for now!

First Born & Last Born

While Dalton napped one afternoon, Easton asked to hold Autumn (again) and posed for this:


The boys adore their baby sister and part of the fun of bringing her home has been watching them with her. Dalton is a great big brother too...partly because he's learned from the best. But Easton, wow, he's just amazing. So sweet and gentle and full of love. The picture above was posed, but none of the rest of these were, in fact, my camera couldn't snap pictures fast enough:






Awwww!

First Day of School

Easton should have started school on Monday, the day Autumn was born. However, we really wanted to be there for his first day so we didn't have my mom take him on Monday or Wednesday.

But Friday we all wanted to be there...even me...which meant we all had to get ready. Here is Autumn on her set-up next to our bed:


She was wearing a light green onesie and at breakfast Easton noticed, "You guys match!" so he took a picture of us:


Then it was time for us to all pile into the car for the first time. Three across works out just fine with two of the seats being Radians. Hooray for not having to buy a new car!


I wanted to be there for E's first day of school, but knew I shouldn't do too much. I bid my boy farewell from the side of the car:


Pre-K already! What a big boy he's getting to be.

Drop off went just fine. Easton brought a keychain with a picture of Autumn in it to show off but his teacher had him hand it right back to his dad to hold for him. :( Oh well. We had a strong feeling that might happen.

While E was at school the rest of us ran a few errands. Jason dropped me off at the door of Walgreens and I bought new milk sippies for Dalton (that's the only spot to get cups he'll use for milk) and do the Huggies wipes deal again. So, I was in the store by myself. And no one asked when I was due or anything. I felt good about that...maybe in more of a "is she or isn't she?" kind of place belly-wise.

Then we all drove up to stock up on groceries at Wal-Mart. I'm not even lying when I tell you I got a motorized cart so as to not over-do it:


At one point I had to speed Dalton over to the potty and then when we came back, Jason reported Autumn was starving. I tried to find a bench out of the way to nurse her but came up empty handed so I carried her in one arm and steered my cart with the other to the exit and then we had to find the car. J had dropped me off at the door so I had no idea where they'd parked...good thing our car has a "panic button" which I was able to hit briefly so I'd know which way to head. I ended up nursing Autumn in the car:


We came home for a few, Jason put the groceries away and Dalton doted on Sissy:




I was so glad to hear E had had a good day at school. It was kind of non-monumentous this time around because he'd started later than everyone and because of all the changes going on at home. Oh well. I can pretty much guarantee kindergarten next year and D's first year of preschool will be a much bigger deal than this year.

First Bath

Autumn never did get a real bath (well, sponge bath) in the hospital. She got her hair washed but normally a baby will also get a sponge bath at some point in their first day or two. I should know, I did billions of these baths when I worked there. It was one of my favorite parts of my job.

Anyway, she never did get one so on her first night home, it was something we wanted to do. First I started with trying to trim her fingernails. I've done it with the boys a bunch...but would you believe on my very first nail I cut her!?!? Poor girl cried but not too much...and while I felt really bad, I didn't get all weepy over it. Maybe if it was my first kid but I just felt bad and moved on.

And after dinner we set up in the bathroom with the space heater warming the place and everything. The boys had planned to watch...


But it wasn't long before they were bored and went to play. Just like in the hospital, Autumn loved the shampooing part of things:






Then we moved on to her less favorite parts...the sponge bathing:


We found that the boys had closed their bedroom door and they said it was because of "too much whining". Autumn was better when I was done scrubbing at her parts:


Isn't she lovely? Even if "orange" would currently be a more appropriate middle name than "Violet". :)

What's In a Name?

Autumn Violet

Many of you know that "Autumn" has always been "our girl name". Jason wrote a song called "Four Seasons of Love" and the very first line of the song is, "As Autumn arrived, I was falling for you..." It was fall when Jason and I first started dating and falling in love and way back at the beginning, we agreed that we loved Autumn for a girl's name.

It was the only name we had picked out and agreed on when Easton was born...back then we would've picked a Hawaiian middle name (like Easton's is "Kai"). But anytime we've found ourselves expecting, while we visit other possibilites for a girl's name, there was none we ever loved as much as Autumn.

Sure she wasn't born in autumn, or even conceived in autumn, but that's when her parents met and fell in love so it's a special season for us. And even though she's only been around 5 days, we've gotten tons of compliments on her name.

When I first told the boys the possible baby names a few weeks ago I told Dalton, "If it's a girl, she'll be Autumn" and he said, "Autobot?" (which is the "good guys" of Transformers). :) However, neither kid has had a hard time switching from "Wabie" at all. Sort of a surprise.

Her middle name "Violet" is after my great grandmother. If it was a boy, his middle name would've been after Jason's best friend that passed away (who's initials are on J's tattoo). We weren't absolutely set on using the name of a lost loved one, but at the same time, we never found anything we liked more. Violet was Grammy's mom...she missed being a great-great-grandmother by less than a year. Here is she the last time I saw her, this was August of 2003, right before I met Jason. That is Lauren and I with her, if you couldn't tell:


Here she is in some of her earlier days:




I asked Grammy to bring some pictures of Violet when she came to visit and she brought a bunch! We'll be putting some up on the wall of Autumn's room.

She'll also need some violets in her room. A night or two before "Wabie" was born, Jason came in from outside remarking, "You know, I don't put much stock into "signs" but I find it interesting that most of our flowers that came back from last year are the violet ones":


Or he checked his email one night and said, "You know...maybe it will be a girl because I just got a "Welcome Autumn" coupon from the Melting Pot." :)

I had Facebooked about how, on the way to dropping off my jugs of urine one day, I'd heard both Martina McBride's "In My Daughter's Eyes" and Foreigner's "Waiting for a Girl Like You". However, on the way home from the lab I heard the Footloose "Let's Hear it for the Boy" song.

And you can't forget my PF Chang's fortune from early on either:


Looking back, it's kind of fun, but there were plenty of things that pointed to "boy" along the way too, I'm sure.

However, upon the news of hearing, "You've got a girl!!!" in the delivery room, I think after "Woo hoo! Hooray!" and such, the next thing to cross both Jason and my mind was, "At least we don't have to fight about a name." Seriously, if we'd had a boy, he might still be nameless. Seriously.

Home Sweet Home

Thursday morning my mom had to head back to work. It was her first week back to school with students and I felt bad that she had to miss the first three days as it was. She stayed Wednesday night and left for her school early Thursday morning leaving the boys with Lauren.

Meanwhile, we were still in the hospital going through all our discharge stuff. Autumn's pediatrician was on vacation this week and so she saw some of the other docs in the practice, and Dr. Bucknam of Baby Wise fame was the one to see her on Thursday. He was great with her and us and before he left he even seemed to give her a little cuddly snuggle. Like a hug. Pretty cute.

I got my staples out and we took Autumn down for her pictures and then we were pretty much ready to go. So I stuck her in the car seat for the first time:


And we broke out the pacifier for the first, but certainly not last, time:


I'm advised not to lift anything heavier than the baby for awhile so Daddy carried her out (towards the pharmacy to pick up my Percocet):


Her first car ride was actually in Gramoo's car. We switched for the week just to make things easier with the car seats and such...so that's why she's got the belt over her. We didn't install the base. She was pretty un-impressed with the ride home (and yes, we openly stole a hospital blanket for the occasion):


We even made a stop to pick up Noodles for everyone for lunch on our way.

Here we are!


Her brothers rushed to the door and I took a picture but it is so so blurry you can't tell what anything is. :( It was cute, though. So cute. We ate lunch, Lauren headed on her way and we tried to carry on with life as we'll now know it which meant a nap for Dalton and quiet time for Easton...which he spent some of that time with Autumn:




She's a cutie!


And then she fell asleep, but that is Easton's "Elway" which is his #1 soft friend most days...he must love his "Sisty" as he was calling her:


So then he moved on to some quiet time at the computer with Daddy:


And Autumn and I headed upstairs for a nap. :)

Dalton reading us a story after we all woke up:


And this is how Autumn joins us all at the dinner table:


Her brothers had pacifiers after dinner too...



Oh wait, those are just Ring Pops. Which made Dalton's shirt sticky and needing to come off:


Another semi-smile:


We're all happy to be home together. The five of us. :)

More of My Girl

So, I neglected to blog those last few days/hours in the hospital. I think I was savoring every last bit of not having to tend to much before we had to come home and face reality. :)

But we didn't stop taking pictures and here's proof...

Here she is looking rather alert:


And Grammy and Grandpa John came to visit:

They also brought Autumn her first dress. I didn't take a picture of it yet but in about 6 months she'll be wearing it for real! It's way cute! Hooray for dresses!

Chillin' at the hospital...I'm betting ESPN was also on in this same picture:


Looking like a picture we have of newborn Dalton (except Dalton didn't wear hats, he was too hot):


Looking like a pudge:


A little smile and her double chin:


I think she looks pathetically sweet in this one. :(


Mama's girl!


Me and all my babes:


Gramoo with two of 'em:


Dalton and sissy:


Taking pictures for AJ:



That wasn't the only reason. :)

This was the day that Autumn's jaundice was catching up with her...her bilirubin levels weren't high enough to require phototherapy or anything yet, but boy did she get lethargic as the day went on. We had a hard time getting her interested in nursing and so one of the recommendations was some kangaroo care...we loved doing this skin-to-skin with Easton and it was super sweet with Autumn too:


However, it still didn't quite do the trick and the doctor ended up telling us we needed to supplement (with my own milk was fine, though!) but I had to pump and Jason had to try to give her a bottle of my expressed milk:


She wasn't too down with it:


So we had to call the nurse in to force it in her:




But she did perk up a bit!




Here we are in our room with a view. Actually, all the postpartum rooms have this same view of the Flatirons:


But my favorite view was when we put baby girl in her first girly outfit:




She's super duper precious, especially in person:


Okay...that oughta tide you over for a bit. There's been lots more from our trip home till tonight with her first bow...but I gotta get this girlie some milk and we both need our beauty rest. After these Percocets kick in, that is. I think I overdid it today. Oops. I said I wasn't going to do too much like I did post-Dalton and here I go again. Poo on me.